Attendance

Attendance Matters

 

This table compares a child's attendance percentage with the equivalent number of days and lessons missed. This illustrates the impact that missing school has on children's learning and exactly why attendance matters.

 

% Attendance -Year	Equivalent Days	Number of lessons missed
95%	9 Days	36
90%	19 Days	76
85%	29 Days	116
80%	38 Days	152

 

Why should children come to school every day?

It is only natural that from time to time, children become ill and are too unwell to attend school. At all other times, we expect children to be in school and ready for learning every day. If children have irregular or poor attendance, there are a number of potential implications including: 

 

• Difficulty keeping and making friends 
• Missed learning - this often means that children find it difficult to access the learning on their return to school as they have missed the introduction to a topic/area of learning 
• Lack of personal motivation and work ethic
• Gaps in learning 
• Lack of routine may lead to behaviour concerns when children do return to school 

 

It is important to remember that attendance is related to Achievement!

 

What do we know about our school's attendance rates?

Our school attendance information tells us that over the last three years attendance rates have fluctuated. Despite a pleasing improvement in 2014/15, attendance figures for the last academic year were a disappointing 94.4%. 

 

What do we know about attendance in our school: 

• Most absences are due to illness and this increased last year
• Less holidays were taken last year than in previous years 
• Attendance in the Early Years was particularly low last year bringing the whole school figure below 95%
• There are no significant differences between the attendance of boys and girls 

 

How do we promote good attendance?

Over the last three years, a huge variety of strategies have been implemented in order to raise attendance levels. These include:

 

• Weekly class attendance prize winners- announced in praise assembly
• Weekly attendance target setting discussions
• Tesco voucher incentives for termly attendance above 97%
• Attendance bingo
• Attendance meetings with families 
• Attendance letters at the end of each half term
• Regular attendance updates in the school newsletter 
• Family Support Worker intervention for families who struggle with morning/bedtime routines
• Health referrals for children with underlying medical conditions 
• Referral to Education Welfare Support 
• School health supporting with promoting good hygiene in the EYFS
• Attendance focus at induction meetings for new pupils 

 

We are always looking to invent new ways of promoting good attendance and ideas and suggestions are welcome. 

 

What can parents do?

To ensure your child has good attendance you can: 

 

• Ensure that they only miss school if they are too unwell to come
• Do not take family holidays in term time 
• Book medical appointments outside of school hours 
• Ensure that children have enough sleep
• Provide a varied and healthy diet
• Insist on good hygiene routines 
• Have high expectations 
• Get in touch with the school if you are struggling with transport or home routines
• Make sure you have identified a support network to support with dropping and collecting your children in case you can't (we can also support with this)